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. 2019 Mar 26;19(6):1473.
doi: 10.3390/s19061473.

On-Farm Claw Scoring in Sows Using a Novel Mobile Device

Miriam M J van Riet  1   2 , Jürgen Vangeyte  3 , Geert P J Janssens  4 , Bart Ampe  5   6 , Elena Nalon  7   8 , Emilie-Julie Bos  9   10 , Liesbet Pluym  11   12 , Frank A M Tuyttens  13   14 , Dominiek Maes  15 , Sam Millet  16   17
Affiliations

On-Farm Claw Scoring in Sows Using a Novel Mobile Device

Miriam M J van Riet et al. Sensors (Basel). .

Abstract

Claw lesions and lameness in sows are important problems in the industry as they impair sow welfare and result in economic losses. Available scoring techniques to detect claw lesions are all limited in terms of collecting data during all reproductive phases and recording all claws. The Mobile Claw Scoring Device (MCSD) was designed to address these limitations. After considering different practical situations and a design phase, two prototypes were constructed and tested. Improvements were incorporated into a final aluminium apparatus, consisting of two cameras with light-emitting diode (LED) lights mounted in a two-segment aluminium box and covered with laminated tempered glass plates. The operating system slides underneath the claws and takes video images. This final prototype was optimised and validated in an experiment with 20 hybrid sows, comparing scores for soiled claws using the MCSD against scores for clean claws using the Feet First© sow chute (as gold standard). Fifty percent of the scores differed between both scoring tools, with mainly medial claw digits deviating, but this seemed biologically irrelevant. The MCSD seems to be an appropriate alternative for on-farm claw scoring and is distinguishable from other claw scoring techniques; however, it needs further optimisation to improve the similarity between the two techniques.

Keywords: Mobile Claw Scoring Device; claw lesions; claw scoring; farm; sows.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest. The founding sponsors had no role in the design of the study; in the collection, analyses, or interpretation of data; in the writing of the manuscript, and in the decision to publish the results. Results of the third prototype were partly presented at the International Conference of Agricultural Engineering (CIGR-AgEng), Valencia, Spain, 11 July 2012.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Different techniques for visualising claw lesions in pigs. (A) Claw scoring using the sow chute (with permission of © ZINPRO corporation, Eden Prairie, MN, USA, www.zinpro.com). (B) Scoring the hind claws with the sow standing outside the crate, requiring snaring and lifting the hind leg(s). (C) Scoring the hind claws with the sow standing in the crate, thereby lifting the hind leg(s). (D) Claw scoring in the farrowing crates when the sow is lying down.
Figure 2
Figure 2
First and second wooden prototypes of the Mobile Claw Scoring Device (MCSD). (A,B) = top and side views of the prototypes. The left MCSD is the first and the right MSCD the second prototype. (C) The first wooden prototype tested in a gestation crate. (D) The second wooden prototype tested in a gestation crate.
Figure 3
Figure 3
The third prototype of the Mobile Claw Scoring Device (MCSD) presented via the CAD-software (left) and at the first trial in the farrowing crates on the ILVO experimental farm (right).
Figure 4
Figure 4
Claw anatomy of pigs to calculate the surface area that must be covered by the cameras for a complete view of the claw. The red coloured square represents the area of the claw which is often in contact with the underlying surface when standing and moving. A = the claw width varying between 65 and 80 mm, and B = claw length varying between 95 and 130 mm. Based on these claw measurements, the calculated surface area is 130 mm × 80 mm (i.e., 10,400 mm2). C = the maximum distance between the cameras, which was determined by measuring the distance between the left and right claw, which was 230 mm, range was 70 to 230 mm.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Experimental design for validating the Mobile Claw Scoring Device (MCSD). A wooden cover frame fitted over the core of the sow chute in which the MCSD was inserted to stabilise and protect against damage to the MCSD when sows entered the sow chute (with permission of © ZINPRO corporation, Eden Prairie, MN, USA, www.zinpro.com). When the sow stood on the MCSD, each camera was manually slid on its own rod to adjust to the position of the claws on the glass plates. Two snapshots were taken from the video recordings to visualise the view of the claws from the cameras.
Figure 6
Figure 6
Tagged visual analogue scale (tVAS) for claw lesion scoring in sows, adapted and modified from the scorings methods of Wageningen University and FeetFirst (Zinpro Corp., Eden Prairie, MN) as described in [9,10,31]. To score the claw area for claw lesions, a vertical bar was drawn on the line and the distance from 0 mm determined, reflecting the severity of a claw lesion.
Figure 7
Figure 7
Current MCSD after adaptions of the three previous prototypes.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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